So why don't elementary school teachers do this for each subject? Prior to this year's public school experience I sympathized with teachers' gripes about dealing with students whose parents don't support their learning at home, but I don't anymore. They make it too hard. I am a well-educated, very involved, very knowledgeable parent with a manageable work schedule. My kids are smart and have had the advantage of excellent educations prior to this year and have recieved a lot of enrichment and exposure to topics at home. But I am starting to consider my son's public school education to be an imposition on my time that I resent. I can't imagine how a parent with less ability, resources, time, and support would handle all this stuff.
That's an interesting question. I really can't answer at the elementary level but I am in academia so I can tell you the perspective from that point of view. Most professors I know have more time to prepare for their classes. If you are at a big university they might have 1-2 classes a semester and if they've been around long enough they've already taught those classes a couple of times and have all their notes prepared ahead of time. They also have a herd of grad students to correct homework/tests for them and answer students' questions.
An elementary teacher would be with his/her students all day and have to do all prep at night. Also if schools are expecting them to differentiate within the classroom a set syllabus wouldn't work because in theory they'd have to vary this every year. I can definitely understand your frustration but I'm not sure if comparing elementary teachers to grad school professors is quite the same.
